Grocery Angels
May 1, 2026
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Grocery angels. For several years I have hired young people for the most part to do my grocery shopping because it had become too difficult for me to push a cart around a large store. So, I had to get creative. The very first angel came to me via a referral, and it turned out to be the most delightful young man. Henry at the time was a first-year student at the Stanford School of Business. Not only was he a whiz kid, but he did my shopping for free! He had graduated from Berkeley and did a startup with a friend. After four years, their scheme hit the skids and they went bankrupt. As part of the judgment, they were told by the court to do community service…and I became part of Henry’s community service. Talk about luck. Once he and his girlfriend had a baby, he had to retire from grocery service. Onto the next chapter…
Most of my angels have come from the app called Nextdoor which gives folks in a neighborhood a vehicle to communicate the need for and/or the offer of services. I’ve had some misses using this platform, but I’ve also had some extraordinary hits. My next star is another young man named Raphael. His story is also impressive. Born in London into a Nigerian family, he’d just graduated from Princeton in Engineering. Naturally he migrated to Silicon Valley and got a fabulous starter job. When he came to interview I asked him two questions. Why would he want to help a senior citizen shop for groceries, and if he had such a good job why did he need another one? He explained the need for extra money as he was going to Harvard Business School in the Fall. Go figure! Raphael is the most charming, polite, kind and thoughtful person. He even drove me up to see my family in St. Helena on Easter. Sadly for me, however, he lost his job in a shakeup and was only able to find an equivalent one in Seattle. So off he flew. We are still in touch, and he’s become one of many spectacular young people in my orbit. But more on that subject another day.
After Raphael skedaddled, I found a young woman named Rosemary. She had grown up locally, went to the prestigious Sacred Heart High School, and was then a Junior at Duke University so only worked for me for a couple of summer months. She too was an utter delight. Smart, funny, and helpful…we remain friends to this day. In fact, after helping me that summer she was off to Italy for her next school quarter. As I had lived in Italy three times, I was happy to be her Italian mentor which sealed our friendship even more. She remains a part of my young posse as I call them.
Last on the hit parade is Sandra, in her mid-thirties. I found her also on Nextdoor, and her story is a bit different. She was already the personal assistant to a local CEO and has three young children, but she likes to work! She didn’t attend college like my other angels, but she is smart as a whip. Her special skill is organization, and she loves to do projects. Not only does she shop for me, but then she puts all the groceries away. It’s heavenly. We have become very close; she feels like part of my family. Sandra even helped me put up my Christmas tree and all the other decorations. What an angel indeed! I often think how very fortunate I am to have attracted such splendid helpers into my realm. I must have done something good at some point to have such divine karma.
